| 27. Linguistic Exegesis The protasis begins with im {אִם | ʾîm} ‘if,’ followed by the existential ein {אֵין | ʾên} ‘there is not’ plus lekha {לְךָ | lə-ḵā} ‘for you,’ yielding ‘if you have nothing.’ The infinitive le-šallêm {לְשַׁלֵּם | lə-šallêm} ‘to pay’ specifies debt settlement. The interrogative lama {לָמָּה | lā-māh} ‘why’ introduces the apodosis, with yiqqáḥ {יִקַּח | yiqqáḥ} ‘should he take’ governing miškāḇḵā {מִשְׁכָּבְךָ | mīškāḇḵā} ‘your bed’ and the prepositional phrase mittaḥtêḵā {מִתַּחְתֶּיךָ | mittaḥtêḵā} ‘from under you.’ This conditional interrogative structure underscores the injustice of seizing a debtor’s basic necessity. English preserves the protasis ‘if’ and the rhetorical ‘why should…?’ while maintaining Hebrew emphasis and word order. |